Displaying plug-in derived content in an application's browser-embedded window with callbacks

• US 7,171,614 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2002
• Issued: 01/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Allor, Jason M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Blackwell; James H
• Application Number:
  US10/159,721
• Publication Number:
  US 20030226102A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• Field of Search: 715/501.1, 715/513, 715/738, 715/745, 705/1, 709/203, 709/219, 709/217, 709/232, 719/310, 719/329, 719/318
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

A system and method for displaying plug-in supplied content in a browser-embedded window is provided. A plug-in module supplies content to a host application for display in a browser-embedded window. The plug-in supplied content contains special tags which identify certain processing actions to be taken by the host application on the content prior to display. The special tags in the content relieve the plug-in module from modifying its content upon installation according to the installation location of the host application. The special tags identify references, images, and controls. The control tags enable the plug-in module to receive event messages from controls embedded in the content that are manipulated by a user in the browser-embedded window. The plug-in modules implement a well-defined set of callback routines for receiving the event messages.

Claims

1. A system for processing and displaying content in a browser embedded display, comprising a host application and a plug-in module installed in the host application,

(a) wherein the plug-in module is operable to supply content to the host application, the plug-in supplied content comprising:

(i) data ready for display in a browser embedded display; and

(ii) at least one embedded processing tag unsuitable for display in a browser embedded display, wherein the at least one embedded processing tag comprises at least one embedded callback tag, and wherein the at least one embedded callback tag comprises control information identifying a user manipulable control to be displayed in a browser-embedded display and callback information to be transmitted to the plug-in module through a callback method implemented by the plug-in module when a user manipulates the user manipulable control displayed in a browser-embedded display;

(b) and wherein the host application, upon receiving a request to display the plug-in supplied content, is operable to;

(i) convert the at least one embedded processing tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display; and

(ii) display the plug-in supplied content, including the converted at least one embedded processing tags, in a browser-embedded display.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one embedded processing tag comprises at least one embedded reference tag, the at least one embedded reference tag comprising reference information identifying additional plug-in supplied content stored in a location established by the host application according to the type of the additional plug-in supplied content.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein converting the at least one embedded processing tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises converting the at least one embedded reference tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein converting the at least one embedded reference tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises:

(a) obtaining a partial path name from the reference information in the at least one embedded reference tag identifying the additional plug-in supplied content;

(b) creating a completed path name using the partial path name identifying the additional plug-in supplied content; and

(c) replacing the embedded reference tag with reference data, the reference data including the completed path name to the additional plug-in supplied content, the reference data being data ready for display in a browser-embedded display.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein creating a completed path name using the partial path name comprises:

(a) obtaining an installation path name of an installation location established by the host application according to the type of the additional plug-in supplied content; and

(b) appending the partial path name identifying the additional plug-in supplied content to the installation path name of an installation location.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one embedded reference tag comprises at least one image tag, the at least one image tag identifying an image file stored in a location established by the host application for storing image files.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one embedded reference tag comprises at least one link tag, the at least one link tag identifying a hyperlink file stored in a location established by the host application for storing hyperlink files.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein converting the at least one embedded processing tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises converting the at least one embedded callback tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein converting the at least one embedded callback tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises:

(a) generating control data according to the control information identifying the user manipulable control to be displayed in a browser-embedded display and according to the callback information to be transmitted to the plug-in module when a user manipulates the user manipulable control displayed in the browser-embedded display; and

(b) replacing the embedded callback tag with the generated control data, the generated control data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the host application is further operable to receive a message from the browser-embedded display containing callback information when a user manipulates a user manipulable control in the browser-embedded display, and transmit the callback information to the plug-in module by passing the callback information to the callback routine implemented by the plug-in module for receiving callback information from the host application.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the plug-in supplied content is an Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) file.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the plug-in supplied content is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the plug-in supplied content is a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) file.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the embedded processing tags are identifiable to the host application from the data ready for display in a browser-embedded display by using a namespace identifier in the at least one embedded processing tag.

15. A method for processing and displaying content in a browser-embedded display, comprising:

(a) obtaining plug-in supplied content from a plug-in module installed in the host application, the plug-in supplied content comprising;

(i) data ready for display in a browser-embedded display; and

(ii) at least one embedded processing tag unsuitable for display in a browser-embedded display, wherein the at least one embedded processing tag comprises at least one embedded callback tag, and wherein the at least one embedded callback tag comprises control information identifying a user manipulable control to be displayed in a browser-embedded display and callback information to be transmitted to the plug-in module through a callback method implemented by the plug-in module when a user manipulates the user manipulable control displayed in a browser-embedded display;

(b) upon receiving a request for the plug-in supplied content, converting the at least one embedded processing tag unsuitable for display in a browser-embedded display in the plug-in supplied content into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display; and

(c) displaying the plug-in supplied content, including the converted at least one embedded processing tag, in a browser-embedded display.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one embedded processing tag comprises at least one embedded reference tag, the at least one embedded reference tag comprising information identifying additional plug-in supplied content stored in a location established by the host application according to the type of the additional plug-in supplied content.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein converting the at least one embedded processing tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises converting the at least one embedded reference tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein converting the at least one embedded reference tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises:

(a) obtaining a partial path name from the reference information in the at least one embedded reference tag identifying the additional plug-in supplied content;

(b) creating a completed path name to the additional plug-in supplied content; and

(c) replacing the at least one embedded reference tag with reference data, the reference data including the completed path name to the additional plug-in supplied content.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein creating a completed path name to the additional plug-in supplied content comprises:

(a) obtaining an installation path name of an installation location established by the host application according to the type of the additional plug-in supplied content; and

(b) appending the partial path name identifying the additional plug-in supplied content to the installation path name of an installation location.

20. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions capable of performing the method recited in claim 18.

21. A computer system having a processor, a memory, and an operating environment, and wherein the computer system is operable to perform the method of claim 18.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one embedded reference tag comprises at least one image tag, the at least one image tag identifying an image file stored in a location established by the host application for storing image files.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one embedded reference tag comprises at least one link tag, the at least one link tag identifying a hyperlink file stored in a location established by the host application for storing hyperlink files.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein converting the at least one embedded processing tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises converting the at least one embedded callback tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display.

25. The method of claim 15, wherein converting the at least one embedded callback tag into data ready for display in a browser-embedded display comprises:

(a) generating control data according to the control information identifying the user manipulable control to be displayed in a browser-embedded display and according to the callback information to be transmitted to the plug-in module when a user manipulates the user manipulable control displayed in the browser-embedded display; and

(b) replacing the at least one embedded callback tag with the generated control data.

26. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions capable of performing the method recited in claim 25.

27. A computer system having a processor, a memory, and an operating environment, and wherein the computer system is operable to perform the method of claim 25.

28. The method of claim 15 further comprising receiving a message from the browser-embedded display comprising callback information when a user manipulates a user manipulable control in the browser-embedded, and transmitting the callback information to the plug-in module by passing the callback information to a callback routine implemented by the plug-in module for receiving callback information from the host application.

29. The method of claim 15, wherein the plug-in supplied content is an Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) file.

30. The method of claim 15, wherein the plug-in supplied content is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file.

31. The method of claim 15, wherein the plug-in supplied content is a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) file.

32. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one embedded processing tag is identifiable to the host application from the data ready for display in a browser-embedded display by using a namespace identifier in the at least one embedded processing tag.

33. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions capable of performing the method recited in claim 15.

34. A computer system having a processor, a memory, and an operating environment, and wherein the computer system is operable to perform the method of claim 15.

35. A computer readable medium having computer-displayable components for display in a browser embedded display, the computer-displayable components comprising:

data components including data ready for display in a browser embedded display; and

processing components including at least one processing tag requiring conversion by a host module into data ready for display in a browser embedded display upon request to display the processing and data components in a browser embedded display, wherein the at least one processing tag suitable for conversion by a host module into data ready for display in a browser embedded display comprises at least one callback tag comprising;

control information identifying a user manipulable control to be displayed in a browser-embedded display; and

callback information to be transmitted to a plug-in module by the browser-embedded display when a user manipulates the user manipulable control displayed in the browser embedded display.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein the at least one processing tag suitable for conversion by a host module into data ready for display in a browser embedded display comprises at least one reference tag comprising reference information identifying additional computer-displayable components stored in a location established by the host module according to the type of the additional computer-displayable components.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the reference information identifying additional computer-displayable components comprises a partial pathname identifying the additional computer-displayable components stored in a location established by the host module according to the type of the additional computer-displayable components.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the at least one reference tag comprises at least one image tag identifying an image file stored in a location established by the host module for storing image files.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 36, wherein the at least one reference tag comprises at least one link tag identifying a hyperlink file stored in a location established by the host module for storing hyperlink files.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein computer-displayable components are Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) files.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein computer-displayable components are Extensible Markup Language (XML) files.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein computer-displayable components are HyperText Markup Language (HTML) files.

43. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein the processing components are identifiable from the data components by using a namespace identifier in the processing components.